The composition of the Senate

A federal assembly

The revised Constitution of 1993 and 2014 drastically changed the
composition of the Senate. There are not only fewer senators, but the Senate
itself is composed differently. The number of senators was decreased from 184
to 60.

The senators from Communities and Regions

The new Senate represents nearly completely the federate entities, as is
the case in other federal states.

50 of 60 senators are elected at regional level, including 1 senator
assigned by the German-speaking Community Parliament.

Moreover, 10 senators are co-opted by taking into account the results of
the election to the House of Representatives.

Linguistic groups

For the instances prescribed by the Constitution, the Senate is divided
into two linguistic groups.

The Dutch linguistic group consists of 35 senators: 29 senators assigned
by the Flemish Parliament and 6 senators co-opted by both the above group.

The French linguistic group consists of 24 senators: 20 senators
assigned by the French community Parliament, the Walloon Parliament and the
French-speaking group of the Brussels Parliament and 4 senators co-opted by the
above group.